When a whale was spotted in the distance, Kimberly Glenz took out her phone and hoped to get a couple of good shots. Little did she know she would capture video of the whale breaching right next to the boat, sending she and her group of fishing friends into a frenzy.
Five of them were fishing in the mouth of the Columbia River off Illwaco, Wash., on Sunday when the stunning encounter occurred. (Warning for language.)
“I got my phone out to take pictures while we were getting ready to turn around, and the whale came up right underneath of us,” Glenz explained. “His mouth came up about a foot in front of my face. Then we saw his tale, and then his fin on each side of the boat.”
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Glenz told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors she was “pretty much caught off guard,” but still managed to keep the whale within the frame. She added that they “got little splashes, but we didn’t get drenched like I expected.”
You could tell by the video there was bait in the water by the birds flying about. And when the whale starts back down into the water after getting a mouthful of prey, you can see the little fish in the air, trying to escape, as seen in the red circle at the bottom right of the photo below.
“I have personally never even seen a whale, and neither have any of my friends,” Glenz told For The Win Outdoors. “It was so intense. We talked about it the entire day. My family didn’t believe me until I showed them the video. We all just stood there trying to catch our breathe, and the usual [comments like] ‘Oh my God, you guys’ and ‘That really just happened.’ We were out there for my best friend’s birthday and she had one hell of a gift.”
As for the fishing?
“We were fishing the riptide but weren’t getting any bites,” Glenz said. “The day was actually pretty uneventful, until Moby Dick tried to kiss me.”
Photos courtesy of ViralHog and Kimberly Glenz.